The most luxurious experience of them all, however, could be found in the dining car. The latter was the first train car to offer on-board meals, including regional specialties like gumbo, which were prepared in a 3-foot-by-6 foot kitchen. By the 1870s, dining cars could be found on sleeper trains across North America. But this decentralized production model also contained the seed of dining car’s ultimate demise. And despite a revival of interest in train travel on the continent, dining cars (or certainly those equipped with kitchens) are now largely the preserve of tourist services.

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Persons: —, impeccably, Henri Opper de Blowitz, Francois Guillot, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, George Pullman, ”, Pullman, Georges Nagelmackers, Arthur Mettetal, “, René Prou, glassmaker, ” —, Mettetal, ” Mettetal Organizations: CNN, Orient Express, Gare de, Getty, New, Compagnie Internationale des, Orient, Nord, Express, “, Pullman, Deco, Italy —, Bettmann, SNCF, Documentation Department Locations: Gare, Gare de l’Est, Paris, Europe, Constantinople, Istanbul, AFP, Britain, America, New York, North America, Belgian, Saint Petersburg, Lisbon, France, North Africa, East, London, Vichy, Switzerland, Italy, Toulouse